Well fuck Batman y’all, we’re back for more Titans this week! We are three weeks in to the first venture of the DC Universe original content experiment and…this wasn’t as bad as the last two episodes? I know right bet you weren’t expecting that. Surprise, surprise. There’s less gore and more plot this week, continuing the uneven streak of this show. But, nonetheless, there was much more to enjoy this week, in my opinion, and there was a tone that could have been present from the beginning. So with that, let’s dive in!
1. Four writers
I’ve complained the last two weeks about the untempered violence and sort of joyful, gleeful reverence in fake blood and unnecessary and unrealistic fight sequences. This episode shies away from a lot of that. I have to think that at least some of it is because some of that energy that Greg Berlanti, Akiva Goldsman, and Geoff Johns all brought to writing the first episode, and then Goldsman solo on the second, was restrained by the addition of three other writers. Richard Hatem, also a co-executive producer on the show, is listed first in the writing credits, followed by Geoff Johns, Marisha Mukerjee and. Greg Walker. Mukerjee happens to be the executive story editor for the season, while Walker has previous writing and producing credits on The X-Files and Smallville. Hatem also happens to teach television writing at UCLA.
Adding in some extra voices seems to even out the show a bit. Minus the language, this episode could have appeared at least on cable TV, and that’s not at all a bad thing. Gone is the scraping faces over broken glass or scissors to the dick. Instead, we get more plot, Kory comes back which is great, and the story is moved along in an important way. Last week almost seems unnecessary minus the references to Rachel’s trust issues and the contrivance of getting Kory and Rachel together, which, while clunky, is not a bad thing. This episode continues to perpetuate the wishy-washy nature of this show. This whole thing is one a sine curve, and has seemed to be multiple different things over the course of three episodes. From cop drama, to dark Snyder-esque super heroics, to now weird sci-fi mystery, we’ve gotten very different tones over the course of three weeks. This one I can live with though.
2. Little Dickie
I think I mentioned “All-Star Batman & Robin” last week, and we definitely get a rebellious jerk of a Dick Grayson in continuous flashbacks this week. The name of the episode, “Origins,” is both tripartite and on the nose. We get more of Kory’s story, learn more about Rachel’s childhood, and get flashbacks to what happened to Dick following his parents death. It’s interesting how this show both wants to very obviously acknowledge that Dick was adopted by Bruce Wayne, lived in Wayne Manor, and was trained by him as a way to overcome his parents’ death. Except, we have no Bruce Wayne. All we get is a silhouette and zoomed out stock photos for family portraits. These flashbacks culminate in Dick having a heart to heart moment in the chapel at the convent at St. Paul’s which feels right. He’s got much wisdom to share with her from his Robin days. Still, the Little Dickie clips strange for the lack of Bruce Wayne and eery because of how the camera perspective is. They serve to explain how he got his car, and some of his thought process, but they also give us the worst CGI ever as Dick jumps from his window to a tree below. I would have loved to have spent more time with Dick’s gadgets and some of his training with Bruce, instead, it feels like a waste of time.
3. Anna Diop is going to turn into the best part of this show
I will say it again, the Kory bits are the most interesting things in this show. Anna Diop plays Kory with so much authority and swagger. Watching her run along again on this amnesia journey reaches some answers here, which is good because it means she can be less weird and more bad ass. She absolutely assaults cops and kills that evil Nuclear Dad, but not in a gross way, and also not in away that seems out of place with her character at the moment or in general. Finally getting her with Rachel makes her interesting, and having her get paired with Dick at the end for detective shenanigans really worked. I’m not sure how they’ll be able to tie alien things back to evil demons, but I’m excited about seeing them try.
Continued below4. The gang’s all here…kinda?
It struck me that as Dick gets to this roller rink (these still exist?) that this is the first time that all four of the Titans have been on screen together. Rachel and Gar are flirting, but Dick and Kory are ready to go. There’s little fanfare in this moment. Gar seems still an odd addition and serves no purpose as of yet, though that is sure to change next episode. It’s an odd moment, but also exciting that all these characters are actually on camera together. Less so than seeing Hawk, Dove, and Robin fight last week, but there is hope for what is to come here.
5. Exorcisms, explosions, shallow theology, evil nuns (a.k.a, “Where do we go from here?”)
There were smiles this episode by characters and that seems an improvement. Dick’s partner, Detective Rohrbach seemingly died last episode, but hopefully not cause she’s listed as a cast member going forward. There’s more Rachel stuff but it’s less scary and full of duded puking their entire selves up. Rachel manipulates some mirrors and blows up a convent, but her other half is much less horror-filled. The theology is bad and shallow, and the main nun is a Gotham-level poor, weird actress. Speaking of weird, the family visiting Donald Blythe from House of Cards also falls into that weird ass vein. There’s improvements, and there’s the obligatory and lazy “God works in mysterious ways.” I point put all these contradictions, just to reiterate again that there’s so much potential here. From awkward flirting, to plot progression, to Rachel on the run, we have much to look forward to. All that is coupled with Hawk and Dove in the hospital with no words, fight scenes with forks, and roller rinks. There’s good. And there’s much bad. But this is the first episode that I’m not upset I gotta do this again.
What did you think of this week’s Titans? Am I off base? Like we should release the Snyder Cut off base or what? Sound off in the comments below, and come back next week as Beast Boy gets featured, and the Doom Patrol arrives!
